Direction-indicating apparatus for automobiles.



, c. H. 1201mm. DIRECTION INDIOATING APPARATUS FOR AUTOMOBILES.'APPLIGATION'IILED VIEKG, 1913.

11,114,676 Patented 001;. 20, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED srrATEs PATENT orFroE.

- CHARLES H. BORDEN, OE HARTFORD, CQNNEQ'IICUT.

minncrion-mmcarme arr'anarus FOR Auroiioiamns. I

To all whont it concerni I Be it known that. I, CHAR and usefulImprovement in Direction-Indicating -Apparatus for Automobiles, of

which the following is'a specification.

' This invention relates .to an apparatus that is designed tobe'attached to angautomobile, and by means of which an occupant of thecar may indicate the direction it is lIl- 'tended-to proceed or desiredto travel.

The object of the invention is to provide a. simple and easily operatedapparatus which can be. readily attached to an auto1nobile in suchmanner that the: driver or other occupant of the carcan instantlyplainly inapparatus has special. utility in cities and townshavingstrictly enforced traflic rogu 4 lations, but it alsoisveryserviceablewherever traiiic is congested or it is desirable-toinform others on theroad as-w'ell as those on the sidewalks thedirection of travel which it is intended to take.

In carrying out this invention, movablearrows are provided with meanswhich may be readily attached to-the dash, hood, mud guard or side of acar near the front in such position that the indicators may lie-readily:observed from=both front and back; Thesearrows are connected withmeansarranged,

adjacent to the hand or foot of the driver of the car in such' locationthat they may be conveniently and quickly moved and caused to point inthe intended direction of travel, and they are-desirably provided withelec-.

tric lamps which can be lighted in the night time to more clearly showthe position of the indicators. 'In the preferred form of the in?vention which is illustrated, there are two;

arrows provided with electric lamps. These arrows are shown asmounted onbrackets attached to the dash in front of thedrivei"s seat and asconnected by fiex'ibleshafts with either a hand lever arranged ad acent'to'the steering wheel, or a' lever arranged on the Speciflcation ofLettersT'atent.

, LES H1. BoRDEN, ;a citizen of theUnited States, residing, at Hartford,in the county of Hartford and, State of Connecticut, have invented anew.

tolturn' to the left, aniovernent of "hand leveror of. the foot lever tothe left will cause 4 thearrows to point to the left, and'wlien it isdesired to turn to the right, a movement of-the hand-lever or foot leverin that d -l I i I v I Patented 001x20,- 1914.

I l ap matio 'fiiea Fema e, 191155 Seria1 No, ?46 582.

tion will causethe arrows to point in that direction and thereby givevisual and readily seen signals to a'traffic oiiicer or to. others infront of thecar and also toany back of the car of. the direction inwhich the car willbe driven. Figure 1 of the accompa shows a frontviewof the. apparatus arranged to be. manipulated by thehand ofthedriveigfand attached to the dash ota; car

nyingf' drawings with the arrows pointing to one side as when.

itiis desired to make a turn inthatdirection, in this view the steeringwheel post-by which the hand operating lever is desirably supported isomitted. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, showing the arrangementof thehand operating lever. adjacent to the steering wheel. Fig. v3,shows on l-arger' scale a section of the foot board of a carbody andaportion of the mechanism which may be provided-when it is'desired ,toturn the'arrows by the foot of the driven. ,Fig. 4 isa plan ofithemechanism shown in Figr3." In

. theseviews the mechanism is designed to turn botharrows SIIIIUltQDBOUSIY. -F1g. 5 1s 'a View of a part of the mechanism showing the useof aninterrupted gear whichflmay be substitutedfor' ,the continuous gearshown in the previous views; whereby the arrows y" b p te independently.Fig. 6

nism for positively turningthe-arrow's and; holding them in the positionto which they:

are turned, this mechanism being-a preplanet the parts-shown in, Fig. 7but in the positions occupied when" the .arrow lock, is released and thearrow is about-to. be, turned to oneside. Fig. 9} showsaplan ith abroken a y of e J r tati g eo m etor which b ar a' e eleotr qalraentactse th lamp. circuit. :Fi 42310 showsaf pla'n. of; the

, fixed contacts: of; he electrical circuit. .Fi'gshows on largerscalea's'ecti'on of the mecha- 1 -l;shows a spiral springwhich may beused with the intsrruptedgear shown in Fig.5 .to insure a quickreturn'to-the central position of an arrow which has been 'indep'endently turned to one side.

The indicators may bemou-nted on any convenientiportion of the car sothat they will stand, out ina' position in which they may be readilyseen, In the embodimento'f the-invention first'illustrated, thearrow-supporting bracket '1 is attached .by a socket plate 2 to' thefront of the dash'3. To the I outer end of the bracket isfastened' ahollow head 4:. Rotatably mountedonthe head is a cap5i This .cap hasarms 6- to which'the arrow point 7 is fastened; The arrow point maybemade of-any suitable material and hold the disk, arborandcapffrom-moving and thus retain the-arrow in the desired po- .may befinished any. desiredcolor, Ascrew '8 'fastens thecap to ans-arbor 9thatjis free to turn in -the head; Secured to the l0wer- 'end of thisarbor. is 'a disk-10 that has adowniwardly projecting-lug 11 onon'e'side and thati'has three notches- 12 inritsperiphery. Albo1t 1'3isnor'mally' thrust by a sp'ri'ngl so that its point will engage thenotchesand 'sition. Bel'owv'the disk 10 isa disk, 15 which has.anupwardly' projecting lug--16 that normally' lies adjacentto-andopp'osite the .downwardly' projectinglil 11. The disk.'15.-is

securdtdfan hat is fastenedi-tda flexible shaft 18. Between the-upperdisk 10'- and the lower disk'1-5 is a-cam plate 19.- This 5mmp1ate"isfast ened to'the'dis k- '15 so that when that disk is'turned bythe flexible shaft "the cam will iorceback the spring-bolt and- -unlockthe diskfltl. Between the two disks and extending-"on 'each side; of thelugs that project from the opposing disks '-are fingers I '20- which arenormally held together by a spring-'21 so as togretainthatwo lugs inline.

.When. the" flexible shaft, is rotated,. th'e.. disk I 15 -is turnedandjwhile the carnis forcing back the' lock'ing bolt the lug-whichprojects from the disk 15 nio'ye's one of the fingers .20 and places}-.the"spring under tension;- As

' thedisk '10 throwsthat disk and this through I soon as the cant-haspushed the bolt back -far enough to unlock thedisk 10-, the pressure of:the spring against the other i finger 20 that bears against'ithe lugwhich. projects from the arbortjo whit-1h it is attached tothe cap,

Ttur ns. the arrow; in thefs'amedirectionizthat the opposite direction.Between the capf22' that-is" screwed into the .undersldeof the :head andthelower .disk 15 is: a spring 23 the dash within" reach of the handle,as revious'ly' described. .l-ff'itc esire'd'j tohaveboth 'oftl ea'rwhi'ch places a tension' on the parts so as to keepthem together andprevent them from rattling. Y v f In the apparatus shown-the cap. whichcarries the arrow is provided .wlth a small incandescent lamp 2& and 'arefiector25 arranged in the fork at the rear of thearrow so as to throwa light thereon when the lamp is lighted. "The leads 26 to thislamp-Vareconnected'by suitaljile binding screws. 27 ,to

spring contacts 28' that are mounted-on an.

insulating disk 2-9 which is arranged to turn Withthe cap. .The springcontacts onjthis movable insulatingjdisk are adaptedto. en.- gage with"contacts 30 se'cured to-aninsulating' disk 31 that is fixed,t'o'th'ehead inside of the cap. Connected wit11 -these.,fixed con-'tacts are'circuit wires which-are preferably' led through the tubularsupporting.

bracketsto a switch 33 desirably "placed on p driver of, the car, and toabattery-ZA. c I

Each of the flexibleshafts IS leadsto and -is. connected-; with apinion" 3.5 mounted in; --bearings on aplatefiG that'may be attached -tothe dash; Engaging withthese pinio'ns is a gear 37 on" a plate. 38"thatis rotatably' mounted- .-on ;the-,.siip'porting plate;- -This plate, inthe: form first shown, is connected .95

by a l-inlr 39 .with theend of, a'I-OCke]; arm 40,,the arbor of which isconnected by universaljoints 4:1 with a shaft 4:2jthat is s'up- ,l.ported by bearings attached 'to the steeringwheel post 43. On the upperend of this shaft adjacent to the steering wheelis' .ahani-"f' dle tlwhich may be turned for-rotating'the shaft and, throughthe mechanismdescribed, .rotatmgthe flexible shaftsand turning the arrows -A segment15 is desirably mounted von the steering post-for retaining the lever.in the position to which it is. turned. 1 :When it is desired to turn,the-larrows means of the foot instead ofby hand, the

gear plate .-38 is pro '-ide'd with a stud 46 which extends into asocket47 on the underslde of a lever 48 that is proyided with a pin-49.':"-Il1e. pin 19. is shown ,as: projectingt-hrough'the-foot'board50' so that itmay be =moved' either one wayorthe other bythe foot.of the driter whose; heel is" placed" in "the rest, 51. Turn-inggthfefoot piii eitheri'jone ,way. or the other jtiurns thearrowsin the saine.manner that" they are turned by-ijthe rows-turn simultaneously; theteeth on the ,ige'arj plate-1 38 are;arr anged so as to always be "inmesh-with both .of the pinions at the ends cram flexible shafts}, asshown in Figs.

1 'ancl'=4 1-'If"it" is. desired to-have the. arrows moreindependcntly.th'atis, to only turn the arm-v; that is" onthc sideItowi -hich the caris to beturned, the: gear teeth may be ar;

rangedas on :the. plate 52 ('Fig.="5) so that they will mesh with butone shaft pinion at a time. If such a gearplate as.52 is n'sed,- insteadof such a gear plate as 38, then a spring 53 (Fig. 11) isarranged inthe-loottom of-the head with one end of the spring slippednpon the fixedstud 5- 1 and the other end of the spring slipped on'the movablestud 55.lVitl this arrangement, when the arrow is turned, the springis/placedunder tension so that when the arrow-is released thespring willquickly returnit to central position. i

The invention claimedis: v

1. An automobile attachment comprising arrows, supports for. said arrowsadapted to be attached to the sides near the front of a car so thearrows will bQ'VlSlblB from front and rear, locking mechanism for re,taining the arrows ineith'er of several positions, means for releasingthe lockingmech-' anism, yfiexibleshafts which when. turned firstoperate the releasiriglmcans and then turn the'arro'ws, gearing forrotating said shafts, and means for rotating the.'earing in oppositedirections.

2. An automobile attachmenti-comprising arrows. supportsfor said arrowsadapted to -be attached to'the sides near the front of a car' so thearrows will be visible from front and rear, locking mechanism forretaining thefarrows pointing forward, means for releasing the lockingmechanism, flexible shafts which when turned first operate the releasingmeans and then turn the arrows,

gearing for rotatingsaid shafts,and means turn the arrows, gearingarranged to r'o-v tate the shaftsi simultaneonsljy' so'as to turn thearrows together, and means tori-rotating the gearing in oppositedirections,

4:.- An automobile attachment comprising arrows supports for saidarrowsfadapted to be attachedlto the-sides near the-front of a car sothe arrows will be visible from front and rear, lockingmechanism forreta'ining the arrows n either of several-positions,

means for releasing the locking mechanism,

flexible shafts which when turned first opcrate the releasing means andthen turn thea'arows, gearing for rotating. said shafts, and meansadjacent to ,the's t-eering wheel'for rotating the j gearing in oppositedirections. 5. An automobile attachment -comprisinghorizontally..movable arrows, supports for said arrows adapted to be attached to thesides near the front of a car so the arrows will be visihle from bothfront and rear,

locking mechanism for retaining the arrows in either of severalpositions, means for releasing the locking mechanism, flexible shaftswhich when turned first operate the releasing means'and then turn thearrows horizontally,- gea-ring for rota-t ng said 'shafts, 'and meansfor rotating the gearing .in opposite directions.

6. An automobile attachment comprising horizontally movable arrows,supports for said arrows adapted to be attached. to the sidesnear thefront of a carso the arrows may be visible from front and rear, yieldingmeans normally holding the arrows pointing forward, flexible shafts andcon: nectionsforturning the arrows horizontally from-side tq side,gearing for rotating said gearing in opposite directions, electric lampsrotatable with said arrows, and circuit connectionsleading to saidlamps.

' em rates i-i. Bonnie's.

VVitne'sses v p Jo nr we ill. STREMBFER, hIARRi. WnLLrAMs.

- shafts coincidentally, means for rotating the

